A is for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

***********Just for the sake of clarity - the theme for my A to Z postings is gaming in the 1980's with my friends.*************

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

It just makes sense that AD&D is one of the subjects of my A - Z posts, doesn't it?  It (and the Holmes Basic set) are what introduced me to the role playing hobby.  It was the summer of 1980 when I received the  PHB, DMG, MM, and the Holmes Basic from my uncle David.  He had been a player of the original rules and had bought these revisions and played for some time before handing them down to me.  

I was pretty excited by these books because I was a fan of all things fantasy and now I had the opportunity to play out my own adventures similar to Conan, King Arthur, or the animated version of The Hobbit that the local PBS station played pretty regularly at the time. I do, however, admit that some of that stuff was pretty confusing for an 8 year old and took the assistance of my uncle to fully understand.  Once the concept was understood, we played pretty obsessively taking any free moment we could to sneak in some game time. 

The common rules at the time were usually a mish-mash of AD&D with D&D and some house rules thrown in for good measure.  Our group was no different from the norm.  I probably have many of our house rules in one of my old gaming notebooks somewhere.  Rules that I particularly remember are ignoring the class/level limits for demi-humans and a +1 to an Ability would allow you a score of 19 in our games.  Maybe it was not "balanced" but we had a blast and THAT is what's important.

AD&D was the mainstay of my gaming group for many years.  It started with just my brother Mark and me but quickly expanded to my friend Jamie.  Over the years other players would come and go.  Some of the most notable additions were Ray and Neal (brothers) and Travis.  Other games might temporarily hold our interest but AD&D was the most played game until most of us graduated in 1991. 

At this point, several of us joined the Army and went our separate ways.  I gamed a few times in the 8 years that I served but it was mostly a drought of gaming.  I know that Ray and Neal have not gamed since high school, Jamie has gamed - we are trying to get a group together - and I am unsure of the rest of the group.  Unfortunately, my original rpg collection met the fate described in this post earlier on my blog.  I would love to have some of these games now or even get a gaming group together.  I think it's about time to get the band back together for one last adventure.  Maybe I'll grab a copy of OSRIC and make a few phone calls...

 

...Then Again, Maybe Not?

Well, here it is Friday and I have no idea if we are going to see The Hunger Games in the nearby theatre.  I assumed it would be a done deal after my wife blazed through the books in a week.  She likes to read and does read quite a bit but it is often sporadic.  When something holds her interest and I find her nose buried in a book I try to find all of the books in that series and get them.  Besides, it gives me another reason to visit the bookstore and I could always go for that.

The trailer for the first movie in The Hunger Games trilogy has been showing recently.  I posed the trailer in my last post.  The trailer looks pretty decent to me and has piqued my interest.  I still have a little under 200 pages left to read but I would see it whether or not I am finished reading the book.  She watched the trailer and said it looked pretty good but after a few days she said something that was totally unexpected - "I don't know if I want to see the movie because they'll just ruin the book".  I admit that I was a little surprised by this revelation.  My surprise came from my misconception that people that are not fans of role playing games, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and other assorted geekery did not generally worry about such things.  Lesson learned :-).

I know the book vs. movie debate - maybe better called original vs. adaptation - has been discussed before by many other people.  I am not trying to start up that debate again.  FYI, I do generally prefer the book or original when it comes to film adaptations.  Even though I usually prefer the book or original source I can enjoy other adaptations and see the merit (if any) in some of them.  I started this post just to comment on our indecision on seeing The Hunger Games today but I started thinking about the whole original source vs. adaptation debate.  To sum it up, some assorted thoughts on the subject are included below...

Chronicles of Narnia: I read these as a child and have recently bought new copies.  I own the audio adaptations by the BBC (iirc?) and those are amazing to listen to with the different voices and sound effects.  I thought the film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was done really well.  I believed that Narnia was going to get the proper treatment it deserves.  The second movie was not bad but it seems to be missing the charm of the books.  I have yet to see the third movie. 

Resident Evil: It seems to be in a special spot of admiration with me.  I have played most of the games and enjoyed them.  I have read all of the novelizations and enjoyed them.  I own the first 4 movies on DVD and will in all probability buy the fifth one.  I have heard some the desire the movie to be a walk through of one of the games.  I think that is a bad decision.  I can separate the games, books, and films into separate story lines and enjoy them all so I do.

Spider Man: My uncle had issues with the Spider Man movies right from the start.  The organic web shooters bothered him because he remembered Spider Man changing the formula of his webs to win in certain circumstances.  I enjoyed the first two movies and thought the third stunk.  I viewed Peter Parker as the "everyman superhero" so the organic web shooters made sense to me.

Stephen King's MISERY: The book was fabulous and did an amazing job of describing the feelings and emotions of Paul Sheldon during his captivity.  The movie was really good also but one area I felt where it exceeded the book was in the ending.  When the server looks at him and says, "I'm your number one fan" you can almost feel the anxiety from the character on the screen.

WATCHMEN: People seem to either love or hate this one.  I did and still do enjoy it tremendously.  Regardless of what is said otherwise, I believe the ending in the movie is better.  I am ready for the flames on this one...lol.

Maybe I will follow up on this later...

Friday Night Movie Prediction...

I have seen the books at Wal-Mart for months but never picked them up.  My wife started reading them this last weekend; already 20 pages away from finishing the second book.  I started reading the first book and I predict that I will be seeing this movie Friday.

Assorted Links I Enjoy

I admit it, it IS a lazy Sunday.  Here are some links that I enjoy that you may also:

Born of Hope A story from the past of Lord of the Rings that tells the story of Aragon's parents.

Fan Films collection A collection of fan films satisfying your needs from Akira to Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Hunt For Gollum An unofficial prequel to Lord of the Rings.

Starship Exeter A Star Trek like series set in the time of the original series.

Star Trek New Voyages A fan made continuation of the original Star Trek series with seasons 4 and 5.

Wrestlecrap The very worst in professional wrestling plus an interesting "What if?" section.

Enjoy.



Versatile Blogger Award

Amanda at Drama, Dice, and Damsons has passed an award on to me.  THANKS!!!!

It is my first such award so that is pretty cool. Naturally there are provisos to the accepting of such awards, which are the following:

Here are the instructions for the lucky recipients:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.

2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.

3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.

4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.

5. In the same post, include this set of rules.

6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.



Points 2, 3 and 5 are now covered. Now for the rest of it.

I am aware that some of those listed below may already be lucky recipients. If so, accept both my apologies and the admiration that getting another nomination implies. 

Back to the Dungeon!

Beyond the Pale Gate

Christian Lindke's Cinerati

Discourse and Dragons

Dreams of Mythic Fantasy

Dungeons and Digressions

Far Trek RPG

Giggle, Laugh, Cry

Homeschool RPG

Mama Diaries

Memories of the Mayfly

Mormanity

Pearson Report

Project BTR

Propnomicon

Seven Random Facts...

1.  I served 8 years in the United States Army.
2.  I grew up Baptist but converted to LDS almost 2 years ago.
3.  I met my wife on a blind date.
4.  I have not played in an rpg session in almost 3 years.
5.  Forget the Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Elvis; I'm a BLACK SABBATH fan.
6.  I'm an '80s slasher fan; my favorite horror icon is Jason Vorhees.
7.  I have yet to read any of the Elric saga by Michael Moorcock.

 

Turning Off Word Verification

I had no idea that blogger turned on my word verification.  For those interested in turning theirs off, you can read about it here.  I am not in a position where I get spam or need someone's comments moderated so I turned mine off.

Mobile Post: World Maps

Ok. I admit it. I absolutely stink at drawing world maps. The outline seems to be decent but filling in the details - rivers, plains, etc. - seems to be my problem area. It makes me wonder how much realism in world map layout and detail is needed. Is there a program that will assist in filling out the details? Is there a set of guidelines somewhere? Is this unnecessary concern? Any thoughts?


Sent from my HTC Inspire™ 4G on AT&T

Shout Out For Dan's Diminutive D20

I just found it in the last few weeks becasue I have not been part of the blogosphere for long.  In case others have missed it, there is a neat mini D20 game called Dan's Diminutive D20 out there for those of use that like a smaller ruleset to mess around with.  I have not done a lot with it but it is tempting to dive in with the small amount of rules.  Check it out!

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - Opening Theme

That talk of the 1980's and Red Dawn in the last post made me think of another blast from the past.  When I was in middle school there were several different cartoons that came in and out of rotation before school.  Sometimes I would sleep a little extra and get ready at the last minute without a care about missing the show.  There was one show, The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, that I made absolutely sure that I watched every morning.  It was not dumbed down like most of the shows.  Yes, it was aimed at children but it still handled some mature themes.  If you have never seen the show, look it up and enjoy.

Red Dawn Trailer 2012 Movie HD Trailer

This film has been rumored for quite some time.  I saw a fan made trailer or two a while back that looked pretty decent but then I stumbled onto a real trailer.  I grew up watching Red Dawn in the 1980's with my buddies during the last remaining years of the Cold War.  It was an awesome speculative fiction film.  I still watch it when I happen to catch in on cable these days.  It is my understanding that the original has fallen out of favor with some due to alleged "right wing extemism" and that is too bad.  How about let's worry about a movie/book/etc. telling a good story, holding our attention, and entertaining us?  Isn't that what is important anyway?